Unfortunately, I seem to have been wrong about Cooke. Cooke swore for years that he wanted to be his own man, write and draw his own stories, stop recycling other people's stuff. I took him seriously, foolishly.

When Cooke recycled Will Eisner's The Spirit, and people complained about his lack of originality, I noted that Cooke had secured the blessings of Eisner before the old man's death.

When Cooke recycled Donald Westlake's Parker crime novels, and people again complained about his lack of originality, I noted that Cooke had secured the blessings of Westlake before the old man's death.

Now we've got WATCHMEN 2, and Alan Moore has pleaded with the comics industry for decades to leave the goddamn thing alone already, but Cooke smells an easy paycheck, so fuck it, time for another recycling.

Cooke clearly doesn't care what the creators think, not being a creator himself. He may have just been humoring Eisner and Westlake. Or -- given that they both died after he allegedly got their blessings but before his adaptations appeared -- I have to wonder if he just made it up. Did Eisner or Westlake put anything in writing?